As an ink-jet recording apparatus for printing, i.e., marking characters and figures on a manufactured product serving as a printing workpiece, which is conveyed by a conveying apparatus such as a conveyer, an apparatus of a non-contact type which causes ink to fly from a nozzle toward the printing workpiece without bringing the nozzle of a print head into contact with the printing workpiece is used. For example, when characters or the like are to be printed on a lateral surface or an upper surface of a packaging material such as a cardboard box in which a commercial product is packaged, the printing on the surface of the packaging material is carried out by an ink-jet recording apparatus while conveying the material by a conveyer; and, also in the case in which printing is to be carried out on a container housing food or drink, printing is carried out on the outer surface of the container while conveying the container by a conveyer.
A print head is stopped in the case in which printing is carried out while moving a printing workpiece in the above-described manner; on the other hand, a print head is moved along a printing workpiece in the case in which the printing workpiece is subjected to printing in the state in which the conveyer is stopped upon printing. For example, in the case in which a plurality of locations of an assembled printed circuit board is to be subjected to printing, printing is carried out while a print head is moved in two-dimensional directions along the printed circuit board in the state in which the conveyer is stopped.
In the ink-jet recording apparatus which carries out printing on the printing workpiece conveyed by the conveyer, a write-starting position with respect to the printing workpiece is set in the manner described in Patent Document 1. Ink particles are caused to fly toward the printing workpiece when the printing workpiece is conveyed by a write-starting distance after it is detected that the printing workpiece has been conveyed to a predetermined position. The ink particles are caused to land on the printing workpiece after being deflected and caused to fly the printing distance between the print head and the printing workpiece; therefore, if the printing distance is changed, the landing positions are changed in the deflection direction of the ink particles. Therefore, in ink-jet recording apparatuses described in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, the electrification voltage supplied to an electrification electrode is configured to be corrected in accordance with the printing distance.
Patent Document 4 describes an ink-jet recording apparatus which is configured to adjust the flying speed of the ink particles in accordance with the printing distance. Patent Document 5 describes an ink-jet recording apparatus which is configured to change the discharge pressure of the ink droplets from the nozzle in accordance with the change in the distance when the distance between the distal end of the nozzle and print paper is changed.